Off Topic - Decorated Cookies - Disney's Brave-themed Birthday

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4 dozen vanilla sugar cookies, 1 dozen chocolate sugar cookies

Off Topic - Decorated Cookies - 90th Birthday Hearts

July - 90th birthday; heart cookies
1 dozen vanilla sugar cookies, 1 dozen chocolate sugar cookies

Watermelon and Grape Smoothie

It is HOT out today.  We went to the Farmer's Market near closing time and I snagged two small watermelons for a great price.  Then we ran a bunch of errands, and when we all got home, we were hot and tired.  So I figured, what better way to use up one of the sweet, juicy watermelons than in an ice cold smoothie?  I had some leftover grapes and threw those in as well.  So refreshing!

Watermelon and Grape Smoothie

Ingredients:

• watermelon, cut into small chunks, seeds removed if necessary
• seedless green grapes
• crushed ice cubes (or whole ice cubes if your blender is strong enough)
• lemon wedges
• honey (optional)

Directions:

• Add watermelon, grapes and crushed ice cubes to your blender.  I used a 2:1:1 ratio (2 parts watermelon, 1 part grapes, 1 part crushed ice cubes)  and it was perfect.  Spritz in some lemon juice.  My watermelon was a little on the bland side, so I added a drizzle of honey.
• Blend until smooth and enjoy.

Avocado Egg Salad

I've been seeing many Pinterest posts about avocado egg salad.  I love avocados.  I'll put them in anything.  So in the past few weeks I tried out several of these avocado egg salad recipes, and let me tell you, they are GOOD!  Some recipes add a little mayo, some add sour cream, others add Greek yogurt, and even others add Dijon mustard, but you know what?  I prefer it straight up.  Just hard boiled eggs, avocado, a squirt of lemon juice, and salt & pepper to taste.

I basically replaced the mayo in a traditional egg salad with avocado.  I like a 1/4:1 ratio of avocado to egg, in other words, 1/4 medium avocado to 1 large hard boiled egg.  1/2 avocado and 2 eggs is perfect for a lunch for me.  And of course you can add whatever mix-ins you like (scallions, chives, celery, onion, capers, mustard, etc.) just like with a traditional egg salad.

While I was trying out the different avocado egg salad recipes, I began thinking of other ways to serve it besides as a sandwich or on crackers, because, you know, a girl's gotta get her veggies in.  I stuffed it into little sweet peppers.  I filled celery sticks and topped cucumber slices with it.  I rolled it in lettuce leaves.  And I tossed it with cooked spaghetti squash.  Don't try that last one with the spaghetti squash, though.  It was, well, yuck.

Avocado Egg Salad
Inspired by this recipe, this recipe, and this recipe, among many others.

Ingredients:

• 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled
• 1/2 medium ripe avocado, peeled and diced
• salt & pepper to taste
• a slice of lemon

Directions:

• Mash the first 3 ingredients together with a fork along with the juice squeezed from the lemon slice, and serve however you like.